Skyhawks rally to ninth

The 16-and-under Baldwin Skyhawks played some exciting softball this weekend by rallying in their last at bat to either tie or win the game in three contests at the ASA Mid-America Regional tournament in Topeka. The Hawks fell short of their goal of qualifying for the World Series by finishing ninth out of 31 teams.

"We had a great summer and finished it playing well in this last tournament," said coach Ginny Honomichl. "We had a couple of girls on vacation, but everybody filled in those spots well."

The Skyhawks started the tournament off with a come-back victory over the Blair Twisters. Trailing 2-1 in the seventh inning, the Hawks rallied tto tie the game and send it into extra innings. In the International Tie Breaker inning the Hawks scored their runner from second base to take the 3-2 lead.

It looked as if the Twisters would answer in their half of the inning with a runner at third and one out but the Skyhawk defense came through. A ground ball was hit to third baseman Kari Garrison who looked the runner back at third and riffled to first for the out. First baseman Anna Skaggs then threw to home and nailed the runner trying to score from third to win the game for the Skyhawks.

Game two saw the Hawks collect 12 hits and score two runs to take the lead in the fifth inning for a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Broncos. Kayla Pringle led the way offensively with three hits and Liz Burks picked up the win on the mound.

Against the Valley Majestics the Hawks went into their last at bat trailing 3-0, but rallied to tie the game and send it into extra innings. The Skyhawks could not convert in their half of the ITB inning and the Majestics scored their runner for the victory. The Majestics went on to win the tournament.

In their first game in the loser's bracket the Skyhawks were without Kyrstan Hubbel who had a strained hip flexor. The Hawk's offense sputtered with only four hits and they were shut out 3-0 against the Raptors. Burks pitched for the Skyhawks, allowing four hits and two walks in the loss.

"We hit the ball well against the Raptors but it was always right at somebody," said Honomichl.

Pringle collected seven hits in the tournament, while Burks and Garrison each had five. Hubbel and Burks each went 1-1 on the mound for the Skyhawks

The 16-and-under team finished the summer with a record of 24-22. With only two girls moving on to the older Skyhawk team, Honomichl is excited about the future.

"We had a great summer, and with 10 of the 12 girls returning, the future looks great for softball," she said

Honomichl wished to thank several key supporters of the Skyhawks this summer.

"A big thank you goes out to my assistants Kathy Garrison and Dennis Bacon, my scorekeeper Jeri Pringle, and Bob and Suzie Martin for help at practices. Most of all thanks goes to the young ladies who shared a summer full of memories with me. Go Skyhawks," she said.